Hymans has already admitted in court documents that its breakage fee policy violated the Fair Labor Standards Act , but the restaurants attorney says the amount of money owed is at issue. Theyre claiming that he owes more money than he does, Alice Paylor of the Rosen Hagood firm says of owner Eli Hyman. Paylor declined to comment on what figure her client would consider fair. As first reported by Bloomberg BNA , approximately 160 former and current employees have joined the group suing Hymans. In a deposition, Hyman said he didnt consult an attorney or payroll expert before instituting the policy under which bartenders, servers and bussers were charged a few dollars each shift to offset breakage costs. Federal labor law prohibits employers from extracting business costs from their employees wages. A lot of people who worked there probably never broke a plate, attorney Bruce Miller told The Post and Courier after he filed the original lawsuit in 2014. Its now up to a jury to determine whether the labor violation was willful, meaning Hymans knew or showed reckless disregard that breakage fees are illegal.